From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
It's true; Remi's shrug is entirely mischievous as he offers his husband a sly smile. Sure, Ronin had been stabbed, but it made for quite the memorable afternoon after all.
"Not that you wore many collars, back then." The alchemist muses, turning away from one of the beams he'd been inspecting. Very nearly he drifts right into Ronin's arms, as if fitting himself against the Star just now is what the moment called for. He doesn't of course—surely the pair can make it a few hours without falling all over one another?—but the few steps he takes toward the Star before catching himself speak very much of what his body had so naturally wanted to do.
"So, upstairs?" The words are said through an awkward cough that leaves the alchemist blushing furiously and unsure quite where to look; the stairs seem like a good enough place for his green eyes to land, though.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi moves as if to drift into Ronin's arms and the Star turns as if to welcome him; the cut-off gesture leaves them both awkwardly orbiting one another instead, and Ronin positions himself before the stairs with a nod that tries to be decisive. It fails, of course, and the Star stars to climb the stairs before they can do anything else to drive each other mad. "Upstairs," he echoes, giving his attention over to the step that creaks (one before the top) and the banister smoothed by years of hands gliding over it.
The stairs lead off into a small entrance space, but doors open into a large, sunlit living area and a shady couple of bedrooms. It's to the former that Ronin walks, dappled in golden light to gaze at the bare space, its kitchenette and its large windows that open out onto the plaza. "...I really like this," he murmurs, glancing over his shoulder to his husband. "It's smaller than the cottage, bigger than the wagon. Tiny, compared to the guildhall. But I like it a lot."
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
Remi can't tell if he feels uncomfortable because he's trying not to look at Ronin's ass as they ascend the stairs, or if it's because, in all his life, he's never climbed a spiral staircase. Twisting in such sharp circles has him dizzy and feeling uncoordinated such that he actually starts to hear the boards groan under his feet when he finally does reach the top.
For a moment, Remi just lingers in the doorway. It's much harder to envision what might populate this space than it had been downstairs. He isn't quite sure why that is—if it's because this fresh start is indeed quite fresh at the moment, or if it's something else—but quickly Ronin's goldilocks-style description of the size has him snapping out of it with a grin. "I don't know that I ever saw your apartment back in Northaven. Was that what it was called? Or was it a flat?" Remi's grin is crooked and provocative, always happy to rub his husband's classist upbringing in his face, if only because neither of them took it that seriously.
"I don't think I want any more children." The alchemist says suddenly as he eyes the extra rooms. The interjection is abrupt, but perhaps not surprising given their new honesty with one another.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
In contrast, where Ronin didn't see the space downstairs as being much of his own - it was for Remi, and he was happy to give it to him - with this place? He's already filled it with bookshelves and paintings, with a comfortable couch and various plants and other brick-a-brack littering the ceiling and walls. He can see Remi reading on few mismatched rugs thrown on the ground; he can see curtains flung open and the windows wide to hear the sounds of the markets below.
"It was called a townhouse," he informs his husband, turning to direct his best baron look at the lowly peasant alchemist, before it melts back into a smile. "And no, I don't think you did ever see it. A shame - you'd have been able to criticise the fuck out of it." He strolls to the windows, gazing down upon the morning in the Pacifist Plaza.
Remi's remark comes out of nowhere, but as Ronin turns to look at him, it's with an expression of relief, of warmth; even joy, perhaps. "Me neither," he says gently. "Besides already feeling like our family is as large as it should be now, I... I don't think I'm selfless enough to give more of myself away. Whatever's left, I want to give to you."
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
'A townhouse, makes sense. Since you all had a town-sized-space to live in." Remi says under his breath, trying not to be too charmed by how easy it is for Ronin to draw himself up into someone else completely. Indeed, standing and looking over the plaza as he was, Remi half expected to see a sneer of disapproval for the rabble below. But now, it was just Ronin. His Ronin.
Remi's relief spills out in a puff of laughter as he nods. "Especially with having Ludo hold Mateo's life over me, and the tie between you and Safrin because of Seren...I feel like there are too many strings pulling at us as it is." Then again, if it was Safrin who wanted another child, what would they do then? Rather than just swallowing down that uncertainty, Remi shakes his head. "I know we're going for open and honest, but that feels a little too...much for this morning."
Could it be that easy? Could they actually just tell each other what they wanted and needed just like that?
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
His Ronin is actually trying to figure out how long it would take to walk from this maybe-new-home to the stall where they'd gotten toast and sausages, even if he looks like a brooding baron whilst he does it. Still, eventually he scoffs over his shoulder at Remi, but he's unable to really deny it. "I hate how easily I accepted it," he admits. "Back then, as friendly as I wanted to be with everyone, I still didn't question that kind of divide."
Not now, evidently, given that he's lived as a king and a homeless person both, and it's all he can do not to stroll back over to his husband as he sees him in the empty space. There are far too many strings pulling at them, and as the Lullaby expresses a desire to pull back from these weighty sorts of subjects, Ronin can only agree. So he does approach Remi, his hand held back out to lead him downstairs. "What do think of this place?" he asks. "Shall I do some poking around and see if we can have it?"
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
Remi shrugs at that, as if any lingering guilt Ronin feels is somehow within his ability to assuage. "The divide is here too. I think the people who live in the Silk Houses are better off than I ever was, but.." He turns, indicating the apartment they stand in. The dust can't hide the craftsmanship poured into its construction, magical or otherwise, nor the fact that the door was open, and no one was found sleeping within. "..this is nicer than what you'd find elsewhere." It was something for them both to keep in mind.
Looking down at Ronin's hand for a moment as his stomach fluttered up into his lungs, Remi nods as he slips his fingers into the Star's. "Are we going to have to fireproof it, now that you're a PhEoNix?" He wonders with a smile. "Because so far at least one of your homes has burned down, and that's before you grew flaming feathers."
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin can't deny that Remi is right, as he looks around at the quiet, sunny little space they've found themselves in. It oozes peace in a way that nowhere else they've ever lived does, and he can't help but feel himself trying to grow roots in it already. "I feel like I could get comfortable here far too quickly, and it scares me a bit," he admits, leading them back through to the spiral staircase, being careful to guide Remi down in a way that will (hopefully) prevent the alchemist from tumbling into his back.
Then again, the press of Remi's body against him and his breath in his ear would be--
No.
Inhaling a deep breath and letting it out again, Ronin conjures a crooked sort of grin over his shoulder at the other man. "How would you suggest we fireproof this place?" he asks, his thumb grazing over the back of Remi's hand. "And all jokes aside... would you fly with me, one day soon? I... I think I'm starting to understand part of how you feel, in the air. I flew here to Stormbreak."
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
"Does it? Why?" Remi wonders. "I don't feel the same. But I think that's because the idea is still so new, and you've already been here for months." It would take time for the alchemist to make this place a home, as well as feel comfortable in the city. It was never somewhere he thought he'd live and everything he'd done so far had rallied against it. But...it seemed the safest place for Mateo, and was where Ronin had set down roots. Surely Remi could as well.
'This is going to take some getting used to." The alchemist grumbles. As whimsical as the staircase was, it was completely foreign to the alchemist who was already forced to white-knuckle-grip the railing lest he tumble over the side of it by overcompensating the turn. This probably means that he's also holding onto Ronin's hand far too tightly as well. "I'm sure Sera would have some ideas." Remi replies with a shrug, feeling much better once his feet were back on the floor again. "Lots of green plants would help too. They don't burn easily."
The question of flight however has Remi's knees threatening to buckle and his stomach turning to water. He's undone in ways he can't even communicate, save for the stupid smile that spreads slowly across his lips. "-mm-" He manages, nearly choking on his own tongue. Laughing at himself, Remi shakes his head no (as if to shake off his awkwardness), before looking up only to shake it yes. "There is almost nothing I would enjoy more."
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I think it's because of what it represents..." Ronin tries, feeling out his own reasoning as they head downstairs, and he absolutely hides his smile to hear Remi squeezing hold of his hand. "It's a new start. It feels peaceful... Nothing has happened here to taint my view of it... Does that make sense?" He shrugs, glancing around before suddenly flushing at a realisation. "I think it's also because this place is the most I've seen you smile in a very long time, and even though the building isn't what's caused it, I want to be here more. Just in case I get to see more of it."
It's so corny that Ronin actively cringes at himself, raking a hand back through his dark hair and sighing out a fluttery sort of breath, only for Remi to tumble even farther into bashfulness and wonder. The Star lets out a soft laugh with it all, nodding to his husband and grinning at him as they head for the door, though he's letting his eyes linger on all the little details he might have missed before; the ugly pattern on the wallpaper; the grains in the wood; the hidden storage spaces.
"Perhaps we can fly around Stormbreak, and you can take a proper look at the place. Better than the nimbus, I'd think."
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
It's childish, but Remi has the sudden and overwhelming urge to jump at Ronin as he walks away; to wrap his arms and legs around the Star to see how long he could run in circles on the main floor of what might be their new home, with Remi on his back.
Biting the inside of his cheek as if suddenly aware of how much he'd been smile, Remi nods as he realizes just how true his husband's words are. "It has been a very long time since its felt like there's been anything worth smiling this much about." Moments with Mateo and Ronin were fleeting, time spent apart was lacklustre, and time spent together? Terse. Until now, anyway.
Remi nods, distractedly; yes, flying would be better than the nimbus.
"Ronin?" Caught in the sunlight streaming through the dusty windows, Remi's eyes are sea-bright and warm. He looks (and feels) lighter for all the knots he and Ronin have untangled, and though the alchemist is young in one sense, his hesitant and bashful smile seems to wipe clean the frown lines so often present these days. "I love you." Softly said and punctuated only by the dimpling of one of Remi's cheeks, the alchemist swallows hard, as if having said the words just now for the first time.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Same here... though I am admittedly better at social masking," Ronin admits, pausing before the front door to surreptitiously remove the bit of paper tucked against the window advertising who to contact if interested about the space. They were interested, and so no one else needed to be until they had decided whether or not this was somewhere they'd like to stay, right. "I'm sorry if that ever made it difficult for you," the Star says suddenly, tucking away the paper without looking at Remi. "The masking, I mean. I know it can sometimes seem as if I'm a lot more carefree about things than I am."
Having finished his final inspection of the shop (and still not liking the fact that the door was open), Ronin grasps the handle and turns it, letting in the fragrant, sweet air of the Plaza, and the increasingly bustling noise of opening businesses and workers getting breakfast. It's then that Remi calls his name, and the Star looks over his shoulder to catch his husband spangled in sunlight, his smile taking years off him, his eyes clear enough to drown in.
Ronin's breath stutters in his chest to see this man, fae and ethereal in somewhere as mundane as a dusty Stormbreak shop, profess his love to him. The Star's returning smile seems to melt through every ounce of tension that has been present in him for goodness knows how long, and he steps aside to hold the door open for Remi. "I love you too." It thrums, warm and deep in his chest, and he doesn't think it has ever been more true.
right now everything you want is wrong & right now all your dreams are waking up
Remi is about to feign surprise that Ronin is the better of the pair at acting as if things are alright, before his flourish of amusement is softened by the Star's apology. "Not difficult, but.." It's another moment wherein the alchemist feels a weight lifted off of his chest, for finally being able to put words to a feeling that had been gnawing away at him for so long. "..just perhaps that we weren't on the same page." Laughing at their combined stupidity as of late, Remi can only silently vow to ensure that he doesn't let them find their way here again.
It isn't only Remi who appears cut from the pages of a storybook: casually charming enough as to steal the air from his lungs, Ronin is every inch the roguish adventurer and soldier Remi had met naked on the beaches so many years before. They've both changed so much in the years since then, and yet in moments like these, there is a wonderful uncertainty about how their lives might go in a way that fills Remi with hope. It was as Vi said: they needn't be apart, in order to balance the scales.
Walking past Ronin, painfully close, Remi pauses just as they're next to one another. Turning, his eyes adoringly falling over Ronin's eyes and then lips, the alchemist blushes, and smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't, but.." He whispers, before leaning forward, breath all but held..
..to pluck a nail from the wall just behind Ronin's head. "Sorry. That would have bothered me all morning." He says with a thoroughly innocent smile, before stepping out onto the busy street.
"Coming?"
~FIN
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
